Even though Nate had seen his deer several more times, there had been no more ghost sightings. Helen went up to the house almost every night to sit below the beam, looking at the corner where Hattie had once appeared. But nothing ever happened. When she’d expressed her frustration to Riley that afternoon, Riley had suggested the Ouija board. Riley had come over to help them with plumbing. All the windows and doors were in, the house wrap was on the exterior walls, and the tar paper was on the roof. Last week, Riley had talked them into outsourcing the installation of the propane furnace and hot water heater and they’d called in a friend of hers—Duane, who owned Ridge View Plumbing and Heating. He’d not only installed the new units for a fair price, but he’d helped them get started with roughing in the plumbing. Between Duane, Riley, and Olive, they were done with the basic work in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, the copper and PVC pipes all in place, ending in stubs where they would eventually connect to a sink or a toilet or a bathtub. Only the downstairs bathroom was left to finish. Then they’d move on to the electrical work. Once all that was in place, they’d be ready to drywall. It seemed so close and yet so far.

“Riley thinks that maybe if we call to Hattie, she’ll show herself again,” Helen explained to Nate now.

“Yeah, and maybe Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny will show up, too,” Nate scoffed. “Bigfoot, too. Hell, maybe Elvis.” He shook his head, looked at Helen the way she’d seen him look at his students when they’d disappointed him in some way. “I think all that weed you’ve been smoking with Riley is messing with your common sense, Helen.” He took a breath, reached for her hand. “Don’t you get how totally fucking nuts this is?”

“I think—” she started, wanting to finish her true thought: that you’re being an asshole, but instead, she took a breath and said, “—that we need to be open to the possibility that there’s more to this world than meets the eye. I know you think I imagined it, but I know what I saw, Nate. I trust the evidence of my senses. It was Hattie. And if she showed herself once, she might do it again.”

He looked at her. “I’m getting a little worried here, Helen. I don’t want you to lose your shit completely out here in the woods and turn into this total I see dead people and read auras, and let me tell you about my past lives kind of person.”

Helen took a deep breath. “No losing my shit completely,” she said. “Just keeping an open mind. I promise.”